


bring your sword to the pity party

by eraserheadbaby



Category: Tales of Series, Tales of Xillia
Genre: Dark Humor, Depression, Early in Canon, F/M, Multi, Objectification, Violent Thoughts, lovely stuff that comes w alvins pov like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27216547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eraserheadbaby/pseuds/eraserheadbaby
Summary: Teaching Milla about sword fighting is nothing like he expected it to be, but it's not like it's normal to have expectations about sword fighting with the Lord of Spirits to begin with.
Relationships: Alvin/Jude Mathis/Milla Maxwell, Alvin/Milla Maxwell
Comments: 10
Kudos: 7





	bring your sword to the pity party

Teaching Milla about sword fighting is nothing like he expected it to be, but it's not like it's normal to have expectations about sword fighting with the Lord of Spirits to begin with.

So Alvin accepts the fact of having Milla Maxwell as a student – and an obliging student she is, which is more than a little surprising. A literal deity should show a bit more of pride, a bit more of bullheadedness, shouldn't they? Seriously, a lesson from Alvin would be a low point even for humans.

Milla's heedful eyesight swings with his sword, while her arms mimic his own. It all dovetails together like an elementary, well-practiced choreography.

Is learning how to wield a sword supposed to go like this? Because, as far as Alvin knows, you don't even have the time to plan your movements; you just have to learn to thrust this piece of crap in whatever fast, tricky way gets you out of whatever mess you're in.

He takes in Milla, aloof and certain, the weapon secure in her amateur hands, and suddenly pushing his sword through that toned, exposed stomach sounds pretty good.

Over the years, he's learned to be thankful to these little flashes of anger towards strangers. They make following orders that force you to care about other people enough to kill them much easier.

So he takes advantage of the opportunity and charges towards that nice part of Milla's body.

Her face as she receives his attack tells him he's been seen through completely, and he's so glad he could kiss her right then and there.

But maybe he is better a teacher than he had pegged himself to be, because she has already grasped enough agile moves to be able to dodge it. It wasn't enough to keep her stomach free of injury, though. Slight yet deep red rises to her skin's surface.

Jude, who until then was content with sitting away from them in his corner, notices immediately and runs towards them. Acting the good kid again? It can't be that hard to come out and say he was just ogling Milla until his eye candy was spoiled with blood.

Quickly, much quicker than Alvin would've liked, Jude steps between them and invokes what he assumes is his most threatening glare. Just looking at him makes him… tired. Yes, tired it is: he's tired of people like him, caring oh so much about everyone and everything.

He's tired of people pretending to care.

“Alvin! What are you doing!?”

“Uh, teaching Milla? You know, that thing she literally asked me to do?”. He almost takes a minute to applaud how effortlessly his mouth lets out this stream of bullshit. “Oh, are you starting to feel left out, is that it? Don't worry, we'll be done in a bit and our attention is all yours again.”

“W-what are you even talking about? You know what I mean! Why did you hurt Milla?”

Did Alvin ever have a pet while growing up? Probably not, and that's why teasing Jude proves so addictive – it's so nice to finally have a silly cute thing to gawk at as it's throwing its silly cute tantrum.

That's what he also was for the people around him at Jude's age, a silly little thing to laugh at while it's trying to learn how to shoot and kill. To be able to look at others through those people's eyes, if only in moments like this, grants him the satisfaction he wishes he could get from what he sees with his own eyes.

“Just an accident. Haven't head of anyone that learned how to handle a sword without one of those”.

“But it's only her first time - ”

“Alvin's right, Jude. This is nothing compared to what I may have to face for my mission.”

Milla's haughty, self-righteous voice, speaking of missions, purposes, reasons to keep trying and not just give yourself up to whatever hellfire life wanted to incinerate you in, makes him wanna add another red line on that pretty stomach of hers. Her equally attractive lips seemed better when he was peeking at them earlier, plump and shut tight.

That's where his gaze rests when Milla turns to look at him again, and her eyes slant enough to denote her hostility. Must the pretty ones always waste their looks with expressions like these? Whatever happened to smiles?

“I don't understand you two. At all”. Jude sounds genuinely disappointed as he says this, because no one told him he should be relieved instead.

“Nice to see you getting used to this so quickly, Milla. Besides, you never know – your killer might be handling a sword like this”. Alvin pauses for the time someone would normally need to come up with a trite joke before continuing his unrehearsed lines. “Or maybe this exact sword.”

Much like he expects, it's not Milla that blows up to those words, but Jude. “What on earth is that supposed to mean!?”

“Just kidding. Sorry, these jokes are like second nature to me, you know?”

Milla's eyes don't milden any, but a nebula comes and goes in their enraged color. Fallen dead stars in the sky, the jots of hopes promptly mangled, hopes that never should have found their face in someone like Alvin.

There was that girl, the one who once believed with all her heart that he could give her the world she – and maybe he too – always wanted. There was that other woman, the one whose clouded eyes could now only see the sheets of her sickly bed. He thinks their eyes may have been just like this, every time they looked at him.

He wishes he'll get to finish the job quickly enough to not let Milla look at him like this again.

He wishes Milla will look at him like this again before he gets to finish the job.

“Also, your killer may actually prefer guns”. With his one-liner expertly executed, Alvin smiles at Milla as widely as he can. 

And this scene's script is now over.

**Author's Note:**

> ive had this idea for so long but i only recently got the chance to revisit xillia…
> 
> all alvin/milla scenes in millas route are so good. their dynamic is just. fascinatingly terrible. and they way it juxtaposes the dynamic they each have w jude is just as good


End file.
